Juan Francisco Estrada vacates belts, moves up to super flyweight

Things just got a little more interesting in the super flyweight division. Double belt-holder Juan Francisco Estrada (33-2, 24 KOs) vacated his WBA and WBO titles this week ahead of his move up in weight to 115 pounds.

Estrada is on a seven fight unbeaten streak since falling to pound-for-pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in November of 2012. He has been inactive, nursing a right hand injury, since vanquishing Hernan Marquez twelve months ago. Estrada thoroughly handled his fellow countryman in a fight that saw his rival hit the canvas a total of seven times.

“It is official, both titles have been vacated,’ said Estrada’s promoter, Fernando Beltran to ESPN Mexico. “The idea is for Estrada to fight on October the 8th and again in December. We hope that the WBC will then give us the opportunity to face Carlos Cuadras in a title eliminator, and then go after a fight against “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.

Before last Saturday’s thriller against Cuadras, no opponent had ever pushed Gonzalez to the limit. Estrada did just that. Some believe that the match was much closer than the judges scored it and, to this day, more than few pundits insist that Estrada won the fight, if not the match.

Joining Cuadras, Gonzalez, and Estrada at super flyweight is the hard-hitting, unbeaten, Naoya “The Monster” Inoue. Estrada shared a ringside “selfie,” with the 23-year-old Japanese prodigy prior to the Gonzalez-Cuadras clash and the crowd salivated at even the faintest idea of those two eventually going head-to-head.

Panamanian champion Luis Concepcion, who acquired his WBA belt in Japan earlier this month, rounds out an intriguing super flyweight division. Five aggressive, all-action, technically skilled fighters, undoubtedly, make the the 115 pound weight class one of the most intriguing in the sport.